Are you tired of cleaning dead leaves out of your gutters? Have you been thinking about ignoring them or even just ripping them off and going without? Although it might not seem like it, properly functioning gutters can be an integral part of many homes. There are a number of reasons why you need to have functional gutters on your roof, some of which may not be obvious. If you're trying to decide whether to repair/replace your gutters or get rid of them entirely, some of the biggest reasons why you should keep them are as follows:

Prevent basement/foundation damage: Although it might not seem like it, your roof may collect hundreds of gallons of water during the course of just one storm. If your house is around 40 feet by 60 feet and you get just half an inch of rainfall, that's nearly a thousand gallons of water that must go somewhere. A gutter system that's properly installed by a roofing contractor will direct this water safely away from your home. Without this gutter system, your basement may flood or the excess water may disturb your foundation enough that it cracks. In order to avoid this, regularly check your gutters to make sure that they are clean and securely attached to your eaves.

Lawn protection: When water cascades off of a roof that lacks gutters or that has badly maintained gutters, it doesn't do so nicely. Some areas of the roof may have more water falling from them than others. This is often due to slight differences in how the individual shingles were installed, some sections of the roof being newer than others, or some other factor that has no real bearing on how the roof itself functions. Regardless of exactly why this happens, the excess water will start to dig holes in spots in your lawn and wash away nearby soil. If gutters aren't repaired or installed by a professional roofing contractor, this can lead to unsightly bald patches in your lawn where grass refuses to grow.

Pest control: Traditional gutters consist of long, U-shaped troughs that sometimes seem to be good for nothing besides trapping leaves. If you don't remove this plant debris, it will start to build up and will eventually start to rot. This rotting plant matter will then start to attract various pests like termites or carpenter ants, who see a pile of dead leaves as a veritable buffet. If cleaning out your gutters regularly isn't an option for you, for whatever reason, talk to a roofing contractor about installing newer clog-free gutters that block the leaves but still allow rainwater to flow in.